A couple of Sundays ago we came up against the moment in time that occurs in the lives of most pet owners at one time or another.

Our beautiful Ridgeback X, Luke, had been declining in mobility and general health for some time and as much as I didn't want to say it out loud, I knew that there would come a time when we would have a difficult decision to make.

As prepared as I thought I was, it still took me by surprise that it happened so suddenly that Sunday afternoon and evening.

In all of the sadness that surrounded that and the following days, I am grateful that my girls were able to say their goodbyes to him with love and calm, the vet that came to our house was kind and lovely in the face of what must be a horrible part of his job and I was able to be with Luke every second, knowing that he was able to feel the love we had for him.

We have some wonderful memories of Luke's time as part of our family, and I created a 12x12 layout in MDS with two of my favourites...

The smaller of the two photos is Luke as the strong and robust fellow that came to us from the dog shelter and quickly made his way into our hearts.

The larger photo is one of a series of family photos that we had taken by a photographer a few years ago. I just love how he inserted himself among us all and how his smile is most definitely the biggest!

The combination of the Paw Parade and Flower Pot downloads were perfect to capture the bright and happy photos and memories of sweet times.